News of the Day (September 30)

Guo Feixiong on hunger strike as words spreads of Taishi crackdown: The latest confrontation between the cadres and the people – in Taishi village (fifth, tenth, and sixth items) – reached a “well-known Chinese bulletin board system” (Epoch Times) before all references to it were ordered deleted. Meanwhile, in Taishi itself, a letter from jailed Taishi activist Guo Feixiong reached two attorneys in the city of Guangzhou, who “immediately tried to see him, but were unable to do so.” Guo is now on a hunger strike.

Another journalists group blasts Communist media crackdown: The International Federation of Journalists joined Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists (ninth item) in ripping Communist China for its “systematic attack on press freedom and journalists' safety” (Boxun).

No textile deal: Talks between Communist China and the U.S. on the former’s surge in textile exports to the latter “ended Wednesday night without a deal” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times) on stemming the tide. The Communist China’s textile exports surge comes after worldwide textile trade curbs ended on January 1, and is crowding out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, second, and fifth items).

Japan and Communist China open talks on disputed gas fields: Communist China and Japan are in the midst of two-day talks aimed at resolving a dispute over Communist drilling in the Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea. Japan is worried the drilling is taking gas from the Japanese part of the disputed area. Communist China sent a small naval fleet to the area earlier this month. Reports: Epoch Times, BBC

South Korea will keep sending food to SNK: Dovish South Korea “will keep sending food aid to the rival North despite the communist regime's demand that international donors halt emergency food shipments” (Washington Times, second item). It should be noted that South Korea’s food is “essentially unconditional” (Washington Post), i.e., without any requirement that the food go to the people who need it rather than Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il’s cronies and his military (fifth, ninth, fifth, last, and lead items).

Uzbekistan picks Communist China over United States: Uzbekistan, which is to say the regime of President Islam Karimov, has “terminated cooperation with Washington on counterterrorism” (Washington Post), largely because his definition of terrorism includes democratic opposition in his country. Thus, Karimov “is shifting his strategic alliance toward Russia and China.” Communist China in particualr enjoys slapping the terrorist label an anyone who would prefer the end to the rule of the cadres (see also second item).